EU tries to form plan to debate U.S.

BRUSSELS — European Union nations took the first step Saturday toward what they hope will be a new and relevant role in a world dominated by the United States.

If it succeeds, it could prevent a crisis like the one over the war in Iraq, in which Europeans disagreed among themselves and, partly as a result, sacrificed their influence in Washington.

Meeting on a yacht harbored in the Greek islands, foreign ministers from the 25 present and future EU nations agreed to write the EU's first common European security strategy.

They said the idea is to establish a plan for major threats such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, failed states and refugees before they flare into crises.

Like most diplomatic moves in Europe these days, the foreign ministers' action had less to do with problems such as terrorism than with the one issue they are obsessed by: how to deal with an overpowering United States, led by an administration that has shown itself ready to brush off its allies and to punish friendly nations, such as France, if they oppose U.S. wishes.

The decision to frame a security strategy is an attempt to unite Europe behind mutual policies so it would be ready to join the debate in Washington when the next crisis arises and influence U.S. decisions.

The war in Iraq taught the Europeans that the United States has the power to set the international agenda and is willing to use it.

"We all agree that, yes, there is a crisis or at least a problem in our trans-Atlantic relationship," Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said. "If we want to have a substantive discussion with the United States, we first and foremost have to agree what our own priorities are."

All 25 foreign ministers agreed that Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, should draft the proposal and have it ready when EU leaders meet at a summit in Greece in June.